ProjectUnlimited Growth? A Comparative Analysis of Causes and Consequences of Policy Accumulation

Researcher (PI)Christoph KNILL

Host Institution (HI)LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS-UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN

Call DetailsAdvanced Grant (AdG), SH2, ERC-2017-ADG

SummaryACCUPOL systematically analyzes an intuitively well-known, but curiously under-researched phenomenon: policy accumulation. Societal modernization and progress bring about a continuously growing pile of policies in most political systems. At the same time, however, the administrative capacities for implementation are largely stagnant. While being societally desirable in principle, ever-more policies hence may potentially imply less in terms of policy achievements. Whether or not policy accumulation remains at a ‘sustainable’ rate thus crucially affects the long-term output legitimacy of modern democracies.
Given this development, the central focus of ACCUPOL lies on three questions: Do accumulation rates vary across countries and policy sectors? Which factors mitigate policy accumulation? And to what extent is policy accumulation really associated with an increasing prevalence of implementation deficits? In answering these questions, ACCUPOL radically departs from established research traditions in public policy.
First, the project develops new analytical concepts: Rather than relying on individual policy change as the unit of analysis, we consider policy accumulation to assess the growth of policy portfolios over time. In terms of implementation, ACCUPOL takes into account the overall prevalence of implementation deficits in a given sector instead of analyzing the effectiveness of individual implementation processes.
Second, this analytical innovation also implies a paradigmatic theoretical shift. Because existing theories focus on the analysis of individual policies, they are of limited help to understand causes and consequences of policy accumulation. ACCUPOL develops a novel theoretical approach to fill this theoretical gap.
Third, the project provides new empirical evidence on the prevalence of policy accumulation and implementation deficits focusing on 25 OECD countries and two key policy areas (social and environmental policy).

ACCUPOL systematically analyzes an intuitively well-known, but curiously under-researched phenomenon: policy accumulation. Societal modernization and progress bring about a continuously growing pile of policies in most political systems. At the same time, however, the administrative capacities for implementation are largely stagnant. While being societally desirable in principle, ever-more policies hence may potentially imply less in terms of policy achievements. Whether or not policy accumulation remains at a ‘sustainable’ rate thus crucially affects the long-term output legitimacy of modern democracies.
Given this development, the central focus of ACCUPOL lies on three questions: Do accumulation rates vary across countries and policy sectors? Which factors mitigate policy accumulation? And to what extent is policy accumulation really associated with an increasing prevalence of implementation deficits? In answering these questions, ACCUPOL radically departs from established research traditions in public policy.
First, the project develops new analytical concepts: Rather than relying on individual policy change as the unit of analysis, we consider policy accumulation to assess the growth of policy portfolios over time. In terms of implementation, ACCUPOL takes into account the overall prevalence of implementation deficits in a given sector instead of analyzing the effectiveness of individual implementation processes.
Second, this analytical innovation also implies a paradigmatic theoretical shift. Because existing theories focus on the analysis of individual policies, they are of limited help to understand causes and consequences of policy accumulation. ACCUPOL develops a novel theoretical approach to fill this theoretical gap.
Third, the project provides new empirical evidence on the prevalence of policy accumulation and implementation deficits focusing on 25 OECD countries and two key policy areas (social and environmental policy).

Max ERC Funding

2 359 000 €

Duration

Start date: 2018-10-01, End date: 2023-09-30

Project acronymBACKUP

ProjectUnveiling the relationship between brain connectivity and function by integrated photonics

Researcher (PI)Lorenzo PAVESI

Host Institution (HI)UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI TRENTO

Call DetailsAdvanced Grant (AdG), PE7, ERC-2017-ADG

SummaryI will address the fundamental question of which is the role of neuron activity and plasticity in information elaboration and storage in the brain. I, together with an interdisciplinary team, will develop a hybrid neuro-morphic computing platform. Integrated photonic circuits will be interfaced to both electronic circuits and neuronal circuits (in vitro experiments) to emulate brain functions and develop schemes able to supplement (backup) neuronal functions. The photonic network is based on massive reconfigurable matrices of nonlinear nodes formed by microring resonators, which enter in regime of self-pulsing and chaos by positive optical feedback. These networks resemble human brain. I will push this analogy further by interfacing the photonic network with neurons making hybrid network. By using optogenetics, I will control the synaptic strengthen-ing and the neuron activity. Deep learning algorithms will model the biological network functionality, initial-ly within a separate artificial network and, then, in an integrated hybrid artificial-biological network.
My project aims at:
1. Developing a photonic integrated reservoir-computing network (RCN);
2. Developing dynamic memories in photonic integrated circuits using RCN;
3. Developing hybrid interfaces between a neuronal network and a photonic integrated circuit;
4. Developing a hybrid electronic, photonic and biological network that computes jointly;
5. Addressing neuronal network activity by photonic RCN to simulate in vitro memory storage and retrieval;
6. Elaborating the signal from RCN and neuronal circuits in order to cope with plastic changes in pathologi-cal brain conditions such as amnesia and epilepsy.
The long-term vision is that hybrid neuromorphic photonic networks will (a) clarify the way brain thinks, (b) compute beyond von Neumann, and (c) control and supplement specific neuronal functions.

I will address the fundamental question of which is the role of neuron activity and plasticity in information elaboration and storage in the brain. I, together with an interdisciplinary team, will develop a hybrid neuro-morphic computing platform. Integrated photonic circuits will be interfaced to both electronic circuits and neuronal circuits (in vitro experiments) to emulate brain functions and develop schemes able to supplement (backup) neuronal functions. The photonic network is based on massive reconfigurable matrices of nonlinear nodes formed by microring resonators, which enter in regime of self-pulsing and chaos by positive optical feedback. These networks resemble human brain. I will push this analogy further by interfacing the photonic network with neurons making hybrid network. By using optogenetics, I will control the synaptic strengthen-ing and the neuron activity. Deep learning algorithms will model the biological network functionality, initial-ly within a separate artificial network and, then, in an integrated hybrid artificial-biological network.
My project aims at:
1. Developing a photonic integrated reservoir-computing network (RCN);
2. Developing dynamic memories in photonic integrated circuits using RCN;
3. Developing hybrid interfaces between a neuronal network and a photonic integrated circuit;
4. Developing a hybrid electronic, photonic and biological network that computes jointly;
5. Addressing neuronal network activity by photonic RCN to simulate in vitro memory storage and retrieval;
6. Elaborating the signal from RCN and neuronal circuits in order to cope with plastic changes in pathologi-cal brain conditions such as amnesia and epilepsy.
The long-term vision is that hybrid neuromorphic photonic networks will (a) clarify the way brain thinks, (b) compute beyond von Neumann, and (c) control and supplement specific neuronal functions.

Max ERC Funding

2 499 825 €

Duration

Start date: 2018-11-01, End date: 2023-10-31

Project acronymDENOVO-P

ProjectDe novo Development of Polarity in Plant Cells

Researcher (PI)Liam DOLAN

Host Institution (HI)THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

Call DetailsAdvanced Grant (AdG), LS3, ERC-2017-ADG

SummaryThe polarity of the single cell from which many organisms develop determines the polarity of the body axis. However, the polarity of these single cells is often inherited. For example, zygote polarity is inherited from the polarized egg cell of Arabidopsis thaliana. By contrast, polarity is not pre-set in the spore cell that forms the Marchantia polymorpha (Marchantia) plant. An environmental cue – directional light – polarises the spore cell which, in turn, directs the formation of the first (apical-basal) axis and the fates of the two daughter cells formed when the spore cell divides. Using Marchantia, we will discover how cell polarity is established de novo in the developing spore cell and how this, in turn, directs the specification of the first major axis in the plant.
The proposed research is feasible because of the unique characteristics of the Marchantia system:
1. Isolated single apolar cells become polarized allowing us to exploit the real-time imaging with experimental manipulation of polarising cues at each stage of development.
2. Haploid genetics can be exploited to carry out genetic screens of unprecedented depth and we can identify mutant genes using a fully annotated genome sequence.
3. Gene expression can be measured with high temporal resolution during polarization.
We propose to:
1. Describe the cellular and morphogenetic events that occur as the spore cell polarizes, divides asymmetrically to form cells at either end of the apical-basal axis.
2. Define the mechanism underpinning the de novo establishment of polarity using a combination of forward and reverse genetics and determine if this mechanism is conserved among land plants.
3. Determine the role of auxin in transmitting spore cell polarity to the cells at both ends of the apical-basal axis.
This will describe, for the first time, the molecular mechanism controlling the de novo polarization of a single cell that develops into a plant.

The polarity of the single cell from which many organisms develop determines the polarity of the body axis. However, the polarity of these single cells is often inherited. For example, zygote polarity is inherited from the polarized egg cell of Arabidopsis thaliana. By contrast, polarity is not pre-set in the spore cell that forms the Marchantia polymorpha (Marchantia) plant. An environmental cue – directional light – polarises the spore cell which, in turn, directs the formation of the first (apical-basal) axis and the fates of the two daughter cells formed when the spore cell divides. Using Marchantia, we will discover how cell polarity is established de novo in the developing spore cell and how this, in turn, directs the specification of the first major axis in the plant.
The proposed research is feasible because of the unique characteristics of the Marchantia system:
1. Isolated single apolar cells become polarized allowing us to exploit the real-time imaging with experimental manipulation of polarising cues at each stage of development.
2. Haploid genetics can be exploited to carry out genetic screens of unprecedented depth and we can identify mutant genes using a fully annotated genome sequence.
3. Gene expression can be measured with high temporal resolution during polarization.
We propose to:
1. Describe the cellular and morphogenetic events that occur as the spore cell polarizes, divides asymmetrically to form cells at either end of the apical-basal axis.
2. Define the mechanism underpinning the de novo establishment of polarity using a combination of forward and reverse genetics and determine if this mechanism is conserved among land plants.
3. Determine the role of auxin in transmitting spore cell polarity to the cells at both ends of the apical-basal axis.
This will describe, for the first time, the molecular mechanism controlling the de novo polarization of a single cell that develops into a plant.

Max ERC Funding

2 499 224 €

Duration

Start date: 2018-10-01, End date: 2023-09-30

Project acronymE-DUALITY

ProjectExploring Duality for Future Data-driven Modelling

Researcher (PI)Johan SUYKENS

Host Institution (HI)KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN

Call DetailsAdvanced Grant (AdG), PE7, ERC-2017-ADG

SummaryFuture data-driven modelling is increasingly challenging for many systems due to higher complexity levels, such as in energy systems, environmental and climate modelling, traffic and transport, industrial processes, health, safety, and others. This requires powerful concepts and frameworks that enable the design of high quality predictive models. In this proposal E-DUALITY we will explore and engineer the potential of duality principles for future data-driven modelling. An existing example illustrating the important role of duality in this context is support vector machines, which possess primal and dual model representations, in terms of feature maps and kernels, respectively. Within this project, besides using existing notions of duality that are relevant for data-driven modelling (e.g. Lagrange duality, Legendre-Fenchel duality, Monge-Kantorovich duality), we will also explore new ones. Duality principles will be employed for obtaining a generically applicable framework with unifying insights, handling different system complexity levels, optimal model representations and designing efficient algorithms. This will require taking an integrative approach across different research fields. The new framework should be able to include e.g. multi-view and multiple function learning, multiplex and multilayer networks, tensor models, multi-scale and deep architectures as particular instances and to combine several of such characteristics, in addition to simple basic schemes. It will include both parametric and kernel-based approaches for tasks as regression, classification, clustering, dimensionality reduction, outlier detection and dynamical systems modelling. Higher risk elements are the search for new standard forms in modelling systems with different complexity levels, matching models and representations to system characteristics, and developing algorithms for large scale applications within this powerful new framework.

Future data-driven modelling is increasingly challenging for many systems due to higher complexity levels, such as in energy systems, environmental and climate modelling, traffic and transport, industrial processes, health, safety, and others. This requires powerful concepts and frameworks that enable the design of high quality predictive models. In this proposal E-DUALITY we will explore and engineer the potential of duality principles for future data-driven modelling. An existing example illustrating the important role of duality in this context is support vector machines, which possess primal and dual model representations, in terms of feature maps and kernels, respectively. Within this project, besides using existing notions of duality that are relevant for data-driven modelling (e.g. Lagrange duality, Legendre-Fenchel duality, Monge-Kantorovich duality), we will also explore new ones. Duality principles will be employed for obtaining a generically applicable framework with unifying insights, handling different system complexity levels, optimal model representations and designing efficient algorithms. This will require taking an integrative approach across different research fields. The new framework should be able to include e.g. multi-view and multiple function learning, multiplex and multilayer networks, tensor models, multi-scale and deep architectures as particular instances and to combine several of such characteristics, in addition to simple basic schemes. It will include both parametric and kernel-based approaches for tasks as regression, classification, clustering, dimensionality reduction, outlier detection and dynamical systems modelling. Higher risk elements are the search for new standard forms in modelling systems with different complexity levels, matching models and representations to system characteristics, and developing algorithms for large scale applications within this powerful new framework.

SummaryThe transition to a low-carbon society is vital and requires major changes in everyday life for European households, including new prosumer roles linking renewable energy production and household consumption by use of smart technologies. This implies major alterations in the materiality as well as the social organisation of everyday life. To guide this low-carbon transition, new theory development on the role of technological systems in everyday life is needed. Practice theories represent a strong approach in this; however, they have developed in opposition to understanding actors and structures as mutually interlinked. This means that major drivers, as well as consequences, for sustainable transition are being overlooked. This project will contribute with important new theory development to understand and promote a low-carbon transition as well as to ensure that this transition does not indirectly become a driver of gender and social inequality.
Three theoretical lines within theories of practice will be developed:
1. The importance of gender and social structures when studying household practices, including how these social structures influence formation of practices and how, in turn, social structures are formed by the development of practices.
2. The role of the ethical consumer in developing new practices, including how learning processes, media discourses and institutionalised knowledge influence formation of practices.
3. The inclusion of non-humans as carriers and performers of practices, rather than seeing the material arrangements only as the context for practices, especially when dealing with automated and internet connected technologies.
Quantitative and qualitative empirical research guided by these theoretical approaches will contribute with work on how future low-carbon living can be achieved and the theoretical developments will form an essential foundation for policy development towards a mandatory low-carbon transition.

The transition to a low-carbon society is vital and requires major changes in everyday life for European households, including new prosumer roles linking renewable energy production and household consumption by use of smart technologies. This implies major alterations in the materiality as well as the social organisation of everyday life. To guide this low-carbon transition, new theory development on the role of technological systems in everyday life is needed. Practice theories represent a strong approach in this; however, they have developed in opposition to understanding actors and structures as mutually interlinked. This means that major drivers, as well as consequences, for sustainable transition are being overlooked. This project will contribute with important new theory development to understand and promote a low-carbon transition as well as to ensure that this transition does not indirectly become a driver of gender and social inequality.
Three theoretical lines within theories of practice will be developed:
1. The importance of gender and social structures when studying household practices, including how these social structures influence formation of practices and how, in turn, social structures are formed by the development of practices.
2. The role of the ethical consumer in developing new practices, including how learning processes, media discourses and institutionalised knowledge influence formation of practices.
3. The inclusion of non-humans as carriers and performers of practices, rather than seeing the material arrangements only as the context for practices, especially when dealing with automated and internet connected technologies.
Quantitative and qualitative empirical research guided by these theoretical approaches will contribute with work on how future low-carbon living can be achieved and the theoretical developments will form an essential foundation for policy development towards a mandatory low-carbon transition.

Max ERC Funding

2 116 000 €

Duration

Start date: 2018-11-01, End date: 2023-10-31

Project acronymGenderedPeace

ProjectA Gendered International Law of Peace

Researcher (PI)Christine Chinkin

Host Institution (HI)LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE

Call DetailsAdvanced Grant (AdG), SH2, ERC-2017-ADG

SummaryThe ambitious aim of this cutting-edge project is to develop the theoretical foundations for a ‘gendered international law of peace’. In so doing, the project will critically engage with the UN Security Council’s Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, first set out in resolution 1325, 2000. By 2015, the Security Council had adopted seven further resolutions, which together provide a political agenda for change in international relations. Notwithstanding the body of research that has been generated over the 17 years, conceptual ambiguity, normative indeterminacy and conceptual knowledge gaps continue to limit the transformative potential of the WPS agenda. In addition, a lack of political commitment has perpetuated its marginalisation from other contemporary agendas and initiatives relating to sustainable peace. This project will address some of these knowledge gaps through engaging feminist methodologies to provide an enriched, and gender-sensitive reading of the international legal obligations of states, international governmental organisations and other non-state actors, and in so doing produce research of academic excellence. In developing an innovative conceptual framework for interrogating through a gender lens what is implicated by ‘peace’ and ‘security’, the research will disrupt current international legal orthodoxy in its scope and approach. Through four distinct but inter-linked streams of study, this project will develop a new understanding of the WPS agenda within the changed (and changing) geo-political context and so provide additional tools for furthering gender equality and women’s empowerment during and following conflict that will form the building blocks of a gendered international law of peace.

The ambitious aim of this cutting-edge project is to develop the theoretical foundations for a ‘gendered international law of peace’. In so doing, the project will critically engage with the UN Security Council’s Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, first set out in resolution 1325, 2000. By 2015, the Security Council had adopted seven further resolutions, which together provide a political agenda for change in international relations. Notwithstanding the body of research that has been generated over the 17 years, conceptual ambiguity, normative indeterminacy and conceptual knowledge gaps continue to limit the transformative potential of the WPS agenda. In addition, a lack of political commitment has perpetuated its marginalisation from other contemporary agendas and initiatives relating to sustainable peace. This project will address some of these knowledge gaps through engaging feminist methodologies to provide an enriched, and gender-sensitive reading of the international legal obligations of states, international governmental organisations and other non-state actors, and in so doing produce research of academic excellence. In developing an innovative conceptual framework for interrogating through a gender lens what is implicated by ‘peace’ and ‘security’, the research will disrupt current international legal orthodoxy in its scope and approach. Through four distinct but inter-linked streams of study, this project will develop a new understanding of the WPS agenda within the changed (and changing) geo-political context and so provide additional tools for furthering gender equality and women’s empowerment during and following conflict that will form the building blocks of a gendered international law of peace.

Max ERC Funding

1 999 705 €

Duration

Start date: 2018-09-01, End date: 2022-08-31

Project acronymGLOBALMUN

ProjectGLOBAL REMUNICIPALISATION AND THE POST-NEOLIBERAL TURN

Researcher (PI)Andrew CUMBERS

Host Institution (HI)UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW

Call DetailsAdvanced Grant (AdG), SH2, ERC-2017-ADG

SummaryThis project will undertake a transnational comparative study investigating the phenomenon of remunicipalisation. This refers to a global trend since 2000 (involving 835 cases in 45 countries) for cities to take formerly privatised assets, infrastructure and services back into public ownership. As such, it marks a significant departure in existing urban governance processes, signaling a decisive shift against the dominant form of neoliberalism that has held sway since the 1980s. The research advances the distinctive thesis that remunicipalisation represents a critical moment in the demise of neoliberalism, signifying a shift towards a new post-neoliberal urban governance regime. This has fundamental implications for cities in terms of how they are managed, who is involved and who benefits from urban development processes, with the re-introduction of more state-driven and potentially more democratic public forms.
The overarching aim of the research is to critically interrogate remunicipalisation and its implications for an emergent post-neoliberal urbanism. To address this aim it has three objectives: to develop a typology and conceptualisation of remunicipalisation that captures its diverse spatial, political and social forms; to assess whether it leads to more progressive forms of state and public action; and, to critically evaluate the democratic potential of the new forms of municipal public ownership. The research employs a multi-method transnational comparative analysis over five years, which involves an extensive global survey element, a three-country comparative analysis (Argentina, Germany, US), and a multi-site ethnographic phase of individual remunicipalisation case studies in each country.

This project will undertake a transnational comparative study investigating the phenomenon of remunicipalisation. This refers to a global trend since 2000 (involving 835 cases in 45 countries) for cities to take formerly privatised assets, infrastructure and services back into public ownership. As such, it marks a significant departure in existing urban governance processes, signaling a decisive shift against the dominant form of neoliberalism that has held sway since the 1980s. The research advances the distinctive thesis that remunicipalisation represents a critical moment in the demise of neoliberalism, signifying a shift towards a new post-neoliberal urban governance regime. This has fundamental implications for cities in terms of how they are managed, who is involved and who benefits from urban development processes, with the re-introduction of more state-driven and potentially more democratic public forms.
The overarching aim of the research is to critically interrogate remunicipalisation and its implications for an emergent post-neoliberal urbanism. To address this aim it has three objectives: to develop a typology and conceptualisation of remunicipalisation that captures its diverse spatial, political and social forms; to assess whether it leads to more progressive forms of state and public action; and, to critically evaluate the democratic potential of the new forms of municipal public ownership. The research employs a multi-method transnational comparative analysis over five years, which involves an extensive global survey element, a three-country comparative analysis (Argentina, Germany, US), and a multi-site ethnographic phase of individual remunicipalisation case studies in each country.

SummaryComplex, structured optical beams have unique properties offering new degrees of freedom for achieving unusual wavefront, polarisation and optical angular momentum demanded in microscopy, optical trapping and manipulation of nano-objects, information encoding in optical communications, holography, quantum technologies and laser micromachining. Metasurfaces, a subwavelength-thin nanostructured films, which were initially developed for controlling the phase of light and its reflection and transmission beyond the Snell’s law, provide a rich playground for generation and manipulation of structured beams. iCOMM will establish a metasurface platform for generating and controlling complex vector beams in space and time and develop its applications in sensing and identification of chiral molecules and nonlinear optical trapping. Using unique optical properties of designer-metasurfaces capable of controlling both phase and amplitude of light, nonlinear interactions of pulsed vector beams will be optimised and explored. We will aim to develop a series of active metamaterial chips for nonlinear control of CVBs, linear and nonlinear sensing of chiral molecules and optical trapping applications, opening new application areas in information processing and biochemical technologies. This will be a transformative development for the applications of complex vector beams and metasurfaces in optical communications, displays, security and bio- and chemical sensing and optical trapping. The success of the project will unlock the potential of metasurfaces in providing tuneability for the improvement of the real-world photonic devices and provide insight into physical phenomena which are vital for various areas of photonics and sensing, demonstrating commercially-viable application of metasurfaces and complex beams. It will transform the areas of both complex beams and metasurfaces by introducing real-time active control and consolidate and enhance the European leadership in this field.

Complex, structured optical beams have unique properties offering new degrees of freedom for achieving unusual wavefront, polarisation and optical angular momentum demanded in microscopy, optical trapping and manipulation of nano-objects, information encoding in optical communications, holography, quantum technologies and laser micromachining. Metasurfaces, a subwavelength-thin nanostructured films, which were initially developed for controlling the phase of light and its reflection and transmission beyond the Snell’s law, provide a rich playground for generation and manipulation of structured beams. iCOMM will establish a metasurface platform for generating and controlling complex vector beams in space and time and develop its applications in sensing and identification of chiral molecules and nonlinear optical trapping. Using unique optical properties of designer-metasurfaces capable of controlling both phase and amplitude of light, nonlinear interactions of pulsed vector beams will be optimised and explored. We will aim to develop a series of active metamaterial chips for nonlinear control of CVBs, linear and nonlinear sensing of chiral molecules and optical trapping applications, opening new application areas in information processing and biochemical technologies. This will be a transformative development for the applications of complex vector beams and metasurfaces in optical communications, displays, security and bio- and chemical sensing and optical trapping. The success of the project will unlock the potential of metasurfaces in providing tuneability for the improvement of the real-world photonic devices and provide insight into physical phenomena which are vital for various areas of photonics and sensing, demonstrating commercially-viable application of metasurfaces and complex beams. It will transform the areas of both complex beams and metasurfaces by introducing real-time active control and consolidate and enhance the European leadership in this field.

Max ERC Funding

2 737 327 €

Duration

Start date: 2018-09-01, End date: 2023-08-31

Project acronymInclusivePublicSpace

ProjectInclusive Public Space: Law, Universality and Difference in the Accessibility of Streets

Researcher (PI)Anna Lawson

Host Institution (HI)UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS

Call DetailsAdvanced Grant (AdG), SH2, ERC-2017-ADG

SummaryThis project considers the accessibility of public space – focusing on pedestrian access to streets. It explores law’s engagement with the exclusion which occurs when streets are designed, operated or managed so as to deny access to pedestrians whose bodies, minds or life circumstances do not ‘fit’. Such exclusion is damaging both to individuals and communities.
With a view to understanding how states and the EU can more effectively ensure that public space is inclusive, the project aims to deepen understanding of what physical features of streets are experienced as exclusionary in 5 countries and by whom; how effectively law is used to challenge such exclusion in these countries; and how the problem is perceived and politically challenged. It also aims to foster shared concern about this form of exclusion, in the 5 countries and beyond, and to raise awareness of how law can be used to challenge it.
The methodology will be comparative, transdisciplinary and participatory in nature. It will develop innovative videovoice techniques for data gathering. It will also develop groundbreaking awareness-raising tools – such as software to simulate experiences of pedestrian exclusion – as well as digital story telling and legal orientation guides. Theoretical context and framing will be provided by an innovative blending of Martha Fineman’s universal vulnerability thesis with the social model of disability.
The project will be the first to bring a multinational sociolegal perspective to bear on this significant social justice problem. It is timely - given concerns about the move in EU countries (often supported by EU funding) toward streets in which space is shared by vehicles and pedestrians; and the ratification (including by the EU) of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which is the first such treaty to include provisions on the accessibility of public space.

This project considers the accessibility of public space – focusing on pedestrian access to streets. It explores law’s engagement with the exclusion which occurs when streets are designed, operated or managed so as to deny access to pedestrians whose bodies, minds or life circumstances do not ‘fit’. Such exclusion is damaging both to individuals and communities.
With a view to understanding how states and the EU can more effectively ensure that public space is inclusive, the project aims to deepen understanding of what physical features of streets are experienced as exclusionary in 5 countries and by whom; how effectively law is used to challenge such exclusion in these countries; and how the problem is perceived and politically challenged. It also aims to foster shared concern about this form of exclusion, in the 5 countries and beyond, and to raise awareness of how law can be used to challenge it.
The methodology will be comparative, transdisciplinary and participatory in nature. It will develop innovative videovoice techniques for data gathering. It will also develop groundbreaking awareness-raising tools – such as software to simulate experiences of pedestrian exclusion – as well as digital story telling and legal orientation guides. Theoretical context and framing will be provided by an innovative blending of Martha Fineman’s universal vulnerability thesis with the social model of disability.
The project will be the first to bring a multinational sociolegal perspective to bear on this significant social justice problem. It is timely - given concerns about the move in EU countries (often supported by EU funding) toward streets in which space is shared by vehicles and pedestrians; and the ratification (including by the EU) of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which is the first such treaty to include provisions on the accessibility of public space.

Max ERC Funding

2 499 672 €

Duration

Start date: 2019-01-01, End date: 2023-12-31

Project acronymINPHORS

ProjectIntracellular phosphate reception and signaling: A novel homeostatic system with roles for an orphan organelle?

Researcher (PI)Andreas MAYER

Host Institution (HI)UNIVERSITE DE LAUSANNE

Call DetailsAdvanced Grant (AdG), LS3, ERC-2017-ADG

SummaryCells face a phosphate challenge. Growth requires a minimal concentration of this limiting resource because intracellular phosphate (Pi) is a compound of nucleic acids and modifies most cellular proteins. At the same time, cytosolic Pi may not rise much, because elevated cytosolic Pi can stall metabolism. It reduces the free energy that nucleotide triphosphate hydrolysis can provide to drive energetically unfavorable reactions.
I will undertake a pioneering study to elucidate how cells strike this critical balance. We will identify a novel pathway for intracellular phosphate reception and signaling (INPHORS) and explore the role of acidocalcisomes in it. These studies may identify a key function of these very poorly understood organelles, provide one reason for their evolutionary conservation and elucidate a novel homeostatic system of critical importance for cellular metabolism.
We recently provided first hints that a dedicated pathway for sensing and signaling intracellular Pi might exist, which regulates multiple systems for import, export and acidocalcisomal storage of Pi, such that cytosolic Pi homeostasis is guaranteed 1. Yeast cells will serve as an powerful model system for exploring this pathway and its physiological relevance. Yeast Pi transport and storage proteins are known. Furthermore, we can establish cell-free in vitro systems that reconstitute Pi-regulated transport and storage processes, providing an excellent basis for identifying signaling complexes and studying their dynamics.
We will (A) generate novel tools to uncouple, individually manipulate and measure key parameters for the INPHORS pathway; (B) identify its components, study their interactions and regulation; (C) elucidate how acidocalcisomes are targeted by INPHORS and how they contribute to Pi homeostasis; (D) study the crosstalk between INPHORS and Pi-regulated transcriptional responses; (E) test the relevance of INPHORS for Pi homeostasis in mammalian cells.

Cells face a phosphate challenge. Growth requires a minimal concentration of this limiting resource because intracellular phosphate (Pi) is a compound of nucleic acids and modifies most cellular proteins. At the same time, cytosolic Pi may not rise much, because elevated cytosolic Pi can stall metabolism. It reduces the free energy that nucleotide triphosphate hydrolysis can provide to drive energetically unfavorable reactions.
I will undertake a pioneering study to elucidate how cells strike this critical balance. We will identify a novel pathway for intracellular phosphate reception and signaling (INPHORS) and explore the role of acidocalcisomes in it. These studies may identify a key function of these very poorly understood organelles, provide one reason for their evolutionary conservation and elucidate a novel homeostatic system of critical importance for cellular metabolism.
We recently provided first hints that a dedicated pathway for sensing and signaling intracellular Pi might exist, which regulates multiple systems for import, export and acidocalcisomal storage of Pi, such that cytosolic Pi homeostasis is guaranteed 1. Yeast cells will serve as an powerful model system for exploring this pathway and its physiological relevance. Yeast Pi transport and storage proteins are known. Furthermore, we can establish cell-free in vitro systems that reconstitute Pi-regulated transport and storage processes, providing an excellent basis for identifying signaling complexes and studying their dynamics.
We will (A) generate novel tools to uncouple, individually manipulate and measure key parameters for the INPHORS pathway; (B) identify its components, study their interactions and regulation; (C) elucidate how acidocalcisomes are targeted by INPHORS and how they contribute to Pi homeostasis; (D) study the crosstalk between INPHORS and Pi-regulated transcriptional responses; (E) test the relevance of INPHORS for Pi homeostasis in mammalian cells.